Australian rock art among oldest art on planet

Aboriginal rock art found in remote Australia has been dated at 28,000 years old, archaeologists say, prompting speculation that indigenous communities were among the world’s most advanced.

Archaeologists picked up the fragment in inaccessible wilderness in Arnhem Land in the country’s north a year ago, and recent carbon dating of its charcoal drawing has placed it among some of the oldest art on the planet.

“One of the things that makes this little fragment of art unique is that it is drawn in charcoal... which means we could directly date it,” said Bryce Barker, who found and first analysed the granite rock.